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Jacqui

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[Poll] Last Stand of the Polar Bears
June 24, 2009 - 06:21 AM

I’m reading ‘Six Degrees’ at the moment, by Mark Lynas, and I agree with the Sunday Times who has described it as ‘terrifying’.
Clearly, I’m already a believer that our climate is changing, for the worse, because of the activities of humans. I’m also sure that it’s equally as clear that I think we should all take responsibility for our own lifestyles by reducing our footprints and buying carbon credits to offset our emissions.
Why am I terrified? Because there is so much to lose, and I just don’t see anyone really doing anything significant about it. Because people are waiting for the world’s governments to take responsibility for us, and the governments are all being paid off by oil and industrial companies. Now is the time to act, and the questions it: Why aren’t we doing something now?!?
Here’s part of ‘Six Degrees’ that really got to me recently. It only starts on p54 and talks about how our oceans are becoming more acidic, because a substantial amount of our carbon dioxide emissions are absorbed into the sea:

“The most important life-forms to be affected are those that form the bedrock of the oceanic food chain: plankton. Although individually tiny, photosynthesising plankton ... are perhaps the most important plant resource on Earth. They comprise at least half the biosphere’s entire primary production - that’s equivalent to all the land plants put together ... [A]ll higher species from mackerel to humpbacked whales ultimately depend on them.
“Phytoplankton are also crucial to the global carbon cycle. Collectively ... removing billions of tonnes of carbon from circulation ... But as the oceans turn more and more acidic, this crucial component of the planetary carbon cycle could slowly grind to a halt. With fewer plankton to fix and remove it, more carbon will remain in the oceans and atmosphere, worsening the problem still further.”

It’s another exponentially worsening situation, exactly the same as the decreasing Arctic Ice - which leads me to the polar bears. Being white, ice is highly reflective; whilst the ocean absorbs the heat of the sun, the ice reflects it back into the atmosphere. However, as our oceans warm and the ice melts, there is therefore less ice to reflect the heat. More heat is absorbed, so the oceans warm quicker, and ice melts quicker. Like I said, an exponentially worsening situation.
What lives on the Arctic ice? Lots of species, in fact, including some humans. But our most iconic and lovable Arctic animal is the polar bear, who is becoming the face of climate change. There numbers are decreasing as the ice decreases. There are less baby polar bears, there are less yearling polar bears, and there are more starving polar bears who miss the retracting ice flows.
Isn’t this enough to turn off your lights when you leave a room, taking up a more sustainable lifestyle, reduce your emissions, and even buy some carbon credits. Carbon credits are produced when sustainable companies do things to help the environment. Pay someone else to plant trees to offset your lifestyle, but know that you are taking responsibility for your contribution to helping the environment.



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